Wild Oscars

[Jmunroe]

Well over the last few weeks my wild caught oscar, Chaos, has taken on what I believe will be his adult coloration as he has hit that age of around 8 months and 8 inches. A red hue to his belly and some red on his chin/cheeks and flanks. His strips have become more pronounced as well. He has also become even more aggressive toward my hand and stalks me now during water changes. He has bitten me twice and drew blood which is the first time I've had an oscar draw blood and I've been bitten by larger oscars that I've had. I've noticed also that for his size he still moves very fast around the tank where as the farm/tank raised oscars I've always had in the past tend to have slowed down by now.

 

[Rivers2k]

Thanks for sharing the pics. I don't know if I will be able to keep mine. Its weird how much more aggressive they are than captive breed oscars. I have mine growing out in a 75 with a JD and a Jag. Both bigger than him and he rules the tank. I used to have him in my fire mouths thank he killed one like a dog with a chew toy pinned one against the bottom of the tank and shook until it was dead so I may be getting rid of him. Hopign his attitude changes but sounds like it wont.

 

[aquariumsB2cool]

Wow that's amazing, I think wild Oscars look sweet. I was under the impression that most Oscars(even some tigers) were born looking like wild ones but gained color as they got older, could be wrong.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Very nice! Glad hes keeping some personality for you lol.

 

[Rivers2k]

Here is an update on my Wild Oscar his colors are turning Blueish. And he photo bombed pics of my jag so I included those. He always has this whatsup you talkin to me look.

 

[Jmunroe]

Nice. He looks great. Mine went through a blueish stage as well. I hope he works out for you... they have such vibrant personality. It was a hard decision to get rid of an oscar I had for over a year and a half to give him the tank. But seeing how aggressive he is I'm sure if they didn't end up a breeding pair he would have killed the other one. Unfortunately the attitude doesn't seem to change. At least mine hasn't towards me.. when he does ignore my hand for a minute in the tank I'll reach out and touch him and he'll turn and snap at me instead of running off lol. Funny little bugger...he shows no interest in the silver dollars in the tank though but other cichlids I'm sure would be different. You would think a jag and jd could handle themselves. I haven't seen mine with other cichlids except the time he jumped the divider when he was around 3 inches. The 12 inch tiger didn't like it and put the run to him. I picture what yours did to your firemouth as being a common occurrence to other fish he can man handle like that. Keep us posted on his attitude

 

[Rivers2k]

Update pics of my Wild Oscar. He is getting a redish tint to his fins his black is more a blue steel color right now and his eye spot is coming in. He is getting rusty color spots on his stripes. (I didn't expect this cause I dont see much red or orange on the wild o pics I see) He has tippled in size in about 2 months. I had to use the flash on one pic to show the red. Well enjoy the pics.

 

[Rivers2k]

I cant see the pics I posted please let me know if they are showing up ok.

 

[Brookster123]

I cant see the pics I posted please let me know if they are showing up ok.

yup ! Spectacular oscar!!

 

[Rivers2k]

Thank you for the compliment and response. Its funny others can see them but I cant.

 

[Rivers2k]

ok I guess I have to add them to my album now in order for me to see them.

 

[Rivers2k]

This is the day i got him 12-19 big change in 2 months 3x the size. I have named him Water Dog. Its a funny name but the day I got him he killed a firemouth by pinning it against the bottom of the tank and shaking it like a dog with a toy. Then swam away without eating it. My jaw hit the ground. He is now with fish bigger than him. Now every morning he greats me at the front of the tank and I say hows it going Water Dog. So thats how the name came to be.

 

[FishBoy185]

Very nice! And a water dog he is indeed!

 

[xwing]

Nice wild oscar ( water dog ) i always thought the jags looked bad azz who is growing faster and who is dominating

 

[Salty_Dawg]

Just a quick query, how are they temperament wise? Are the more aggressive than their captive bread counterparts?

 

[Rivers2k]

Just a quick query, how are they temperament wise? Are the more aggressive than their captive bread counterparts?

Much more aggressive than my captive bred Oscar. However my captive bred oscar had IPs from the time I had him until the time he died three weeks later so it might not be a fair comparison. I have heard from others that the Wild O's are more aggressive and mine certainly is. He isn't very territorial he doesn't chase anyone but will nip at fish that get close to him. He is always out in the middle of the tank. He is the first to the food and I don't trust him with anyone his size or smaller. Hope that answers your question.

 

[Rivers2k]

Nice wild oscar ( water dog ) i always thought the jags looked bad azz who is growing faster and who is dominating

They are both growing at the same rate. The Jag was bigger than the O when I bought him and he is keeping up a steady growth rate also both putting on about an inch a month I would guesstimate.

Dominating is a tough question to answer because they have different behaviors. I a have seen the circle each other twice for about 5 seconds each and nothing happened. They mostly they stick to different parts of the tank. The Oscar stays kind of open water drifting in the center of the tank. The Jag has made a little home for himself in the back corner and just kind of sits and waits to eat. As far as a aggression goes I would say my Jag is more aggressive than my Oscar because he will give chase every once in a while to other fish who get near his territory. The oscar just nips them as they go by.

 

[Aquaenthused]

Jeez, now I want a true wild Oscar!! My tiger Oscar, Piggy and my orange 'snowflake' Oscar, Gino, were caught in the wild in Florida, but are obviously not true wild Oscars. Although they have settled into similar progression patterns as farm raised in their maturity. When Gino was a fry (rescued), after I got him healed, displayed incredibly aggressive behavior and attacked me all the time, I had to stop hand feeding when his mouth became big enough to bite and thrash and draw blood several times. My piggy started out nipping at a Dempsey that was 3X her size bullying him into a corner, but once I started hand feeding she started showing her domestic side. Unlike Gino she didn't wildly attack the minute my hand appeared above the tank- she would try to knock the food out of my hand by jumping and splashing. Her jumps were way more daring then an average farm/ tank raised and her aggression towards anything that got in her way reminded me of wild Oscars.

Piggy is now about 7 months old and 12 inches and Gino is almost a year and just hit 15 inches they are my feature couple in my 150g NW cichlid community tank and have become the friendly goofy farm raised Oscars that drive parents to bring their kids to my house to see the silly fishies... Instead of jumping out of the water and biting they now surface with their mouths open and wag their tail fins and wait for me to drop treats in their mouths, though piggy does still jump for nightcrawlers. They are too peaceful now.... Does anyone know if a 90g would be ok for a single specimen biotope?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Rivers2k]

90 Gallon is enough for a single Oscar. But to be honest I don't care for aggressiveness. I bought it because of the cool looks. Same reason I got the Jag they are to cool looking.

I think less aggressive is better because you don't have to worry about waking up one day to find everything else in the tank dead. This is something I worry about in my tank. I think your lucky to have Piggy and Gino getting along a wild caught O isn't going to give you anything you don't already have.

 

[Jmunroe]

ok I guess I have to add them to my album now in order for me to see them.

Looking good. Looks almost identical to my wild caught at that age. Yours may end up looking like mine when older(see earlier pics I added to this thread). Mine has grown to over 9 inches in 5 months from 1.5 inches when I got him. And to Salty Dog that asked if they are more aggressive... yes, a lot more than farm/captive raised oscars. I have a hard time cleaning the tank any more. Mine stalks my hand and pushes back when I try to scoot him away with gravel vac. Every time I feed him he wants to jump at my hand and I don't leave the canopy door open for long, I'm sure he'd jump out.